Inspiration and photo lessons from professional photographers and the Tamron technical team.

Monday, July 06, 2015

The best way to capture shots of small bugs and critters, is to get up at daybreak on a cool morning with no wind, and search the little guys out in open field grass. When the temperatures drop at night, the critters body temps go down and in the morning they stay perfectly still and unable to fly away until they warm up. This allows me time to set up my tripod and shoot with out having to rush. In this image you can see two butterflies on the right side and on the left side in the middle you see a little bit of black in the grass and that is a dragonfly.

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Nikon D7000 - Tamron 16-300 / Shot at f/11

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Sometimes when these guys are in clutter grass you don't always get the nice clean backgrounds, so I will shoot in the lower f/stop numbers, and this one was shot at f/8.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Tamron Image Master Ed Heaton here, sharing a few insights and images from my most recent Great Smoky Mountain Photography Workshop in Tennessee.

To give you just a bit of background, I’ve been teaching a workshop in the Great Smoky Mountains now since 2005 and I have to say I am truly impressed every time I visit the park. The wild flowers and overall scenic views are absolutely breathtaking not to mention some of the most pristine rivers on the East Coast. The workshop is five days of nonstop photography. We are up long before sunrise and will be out photographing at the very least 30 minutes past sunset. Of course we do have a bit of downtime during mid-day but these long days allow us to get some amazing images. Another great thing about the Smokies is that spring weather is very dramatic and unsettled. In fact one of the old sayings there is “if you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes and it’ll change”. I can honestly say I found that to be true!

Whenever we have a workshop scheduled we arrive several days ahead of the start date and stay a couple extra days on the tail end so that we can shoot a few personal images. Here are just a few that I was able to capture. All of the images that I created here were shot with the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD lens. One sharp lens!!!

Monday, March 30, 2015

On a recent spring-like Sunday drive, I happened upon the Benson Sculpture Park in Loveland, CO not far from where I live. I love viewing art of all sorts, so I stopped to enjoy the garden and some of the 144 sculptures that are spread throughout the park. There is just about always a camera in the car with me and this day was no exception. After all, you never know when you will see something that inspires image making.

Wandering through the 10-acre sculpture park, I enjoyed the variety of sculptures and was inspired to shoot some hand-held and some tripod-mounted images. However, it was a windy day and those gusts were zapping my creative energy. So I folded up the tripod and headed back to the car.

Just then I rounded a corner, almost stumbling into a larger-than-life sculpture of people pulling on a wishbone, “Big Wish,” by Linda Prokop. Though wind-beaten from my trek around the park, the piece inspired me to stop and take a couple of shots.

Times like this are when really knowing how your equipment will perform comes in handy. I had one of my “go-to” lenses, the Tamron 16-300 VC PZD, attached to my APS-C sensor DSLR. I knew I wanted a large depth of field for the shot I envisioned. I set the camera to aperture-priority mode and stopped down to f22. Since it was a bright sunny day, I set the camera at ISO 100. Because I have taken the time to understand my camera’s capabilities, I knew with this scene I could trust that the “matrix” or “evaluative” metering mode in the camera would get the exposure just right.

The camera chose a shutter speed of 1/15 sec. I set the lens to the 16mm focal length and held the camera just barely off the ground to get this exaggerated view looking up at the sculpture. It wasn’t necessary to use live view, or even attempt to lie on the ground. I know my gear well enough to know what to expect in the shot. And as you can see from this image, I nailed it with the first shot.

As always, I worked the subject from several different angles, but I knew that the first shot was the one I would deem the keeper. The lesson here is to shoot your camera and favorite lenses regularly so you know how the light meter reads scenes, and what to expect from lenses at different focal lengths and angles of view. Then you too will be able to ‘shoot from the hip’ -- or in this case -- from the ankle.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Let me start by saying I am not a morning person... You can quote me on this.

I spent the last week in northern Minnesota where the daily high reached -5F and had forgotten how crisp and refreshing the air feels, but more importantly had forgotten a great advantage to an extremely cold sunrise.

Sun dogs scientific name parhelia, are an atmospheric phenomenon that consists of a pair of bright spots on either side on the sun, created by light interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere often co-occurring with a luminous ring. (from wikipedia.org)

Knowing your environment in any situation is the best way to achieve remarkable photographs. With this image, the cold morning (-19F!) provided the perfect atmosphere to capture sun dogs at sunrise. I received the best results waiting until the sun reached fully above the horizon line; underexposing the image by 1 stop.

Now spending long periods of time in below zero temperatures is not recommended. Using Tamron's vibration compensation was perfect for hand holding, allowing me to stay safely within my warm vehicle, coffee in hand.

Canon 70D Tamron SP AF 15-30mm F2.8 VC USD @ F22 1/50sec ISO 100

This image depicts the open farm country in northern Minnesota and hopefully the frigid temperatures so often reported on the weather channel. I travel all over the United States for Tamron. Sometimes the best photographs are the ones you can capture in your own backyard.

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Bokeh is a term that has become very popular in the photographic world. It is the way a lens renders out of focus points of light. It may be intimidating to some, but it is actually very simple to do. All we are doing here is shooting with a very shallow depth of field. First you need some points of light; Christmas lights are perfect for this. You then want to put your subject far from your background. The photograher needs to shoot close to the subject that is intended to be in focus. Turn the camera onto Aperture Priority and open up the aperture as wide as possible. From there it's then just a matter of how you want to compose the image against the light source.

Tamron 60mm f/2.0 @ 1/2 sec. - f/2.8 - ISO 100

It was mentioned that a wide aperture is best for good bokeh. However, this effect can be achieved with any lens....

Tamron 16-300mm VC PZD @ 135mm - 2 sec. - f/6.0 - ISO 100

Typically other photographers will say that you have to shoot with a fast prime such as a f/1.8 or f/2.8 lens, but the above image was shot with an all in one zoom at f/6.0. It was mentioned earlier that bokeh has to do with a shallow depth of field. It is critical to remember that our f-stop is not all that affects DOF. It is also the focal length and focus distance. To get the above effect, all that was needed was to zoom and change positioning.

Bokeh can be very rewarding when done correctly. As always, practice and experiment with it. But most of all, have fun!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I wanted to share this image of the old cabin located in the heart of Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I noticed this view as I was driving around the loop road and thought to myself what a great image this would make from back here. Normally I'd like to tell my students, “if you're not making enough impact with your images get closer” but on occasion it's nice to create a sense of isolation by getting further away from your subject and use a longer lens to compress the scene and narrow the angle of view. Here, I used my Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD, which is always in my bag, and at 95mm focal length with an aperture of f/8 was just enough to add a few interesting elements and create a feeling of loneliness. Of course the approaching storm played a huge part in creating the mood for this image.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most incredible drives in the contiguous 48 states. The road rises to 12,134 feet elevation and over 11 miles of the highway is above treeline. Whether your camera is pointed toward the twin peaks of Long’s Peak and Mount Meeker, the alpine flowers or the pikas, bighorn sheep and elk, the photographic possibilities are endless and inspiring.

After we finished shooting wildflowers above Hidden Valley, we continued our drive toward the summit. The parking lot at Rainbow Curve and its incredible vistas was teeming with cars and people so we decided to drive up a little further.

Our patience paid off when we pulled into a spot at Lava Cliffs, which is just below the highest point on the road. In the valley to our east were elk. The gentlemen were enjoying a snack and napping near the ponds while the ladies were to their north in the meadow munching on a midday treat. Now the elk weren't that close to the roadside pullout but I was confident that I could get some great shots with the Tamron 150-600mm I brought along.

Relaxing With The Boys

Tamron 150-600 VC at 600mm (Hand held!) ISO: 800, Shutter speed: 1/500 sec, Aperture: f8 For this image, the wind had come up and the bull elk were further away than the cows so I had to increase my shutter speed to compensate for the windy conditions

Little did we know when we pulled out our cameras and Tamron lenses, we were going to attract almost as much attention from the tourists as the elk did.

When we arrived at Lava Cliffs, the overlook was full of tourists with i-Devices, point-n- shoots, binoculars, and a few DSLRs with "kit lenses." We set up our tripods along the edge of the overlook. I was using the new Tamron 150-600 VC on my camera while Deanna had the 200-500 on hers. With lens shades on, and pointed toward the elk, they were a sight compared to those around us.

And our lenses allowed us to get a little closer to the wildlife. These images show how the right lens can still let you get the action even when you are over a half mile away from it. The bull elk in the second image were approximately a half mile from our vantage point while the cows and calves were in a field a little closer - only about a quarter mile or maybe a bit less. In all three of these, you can see how amazingly sharp this lens is when it's wide open at 600mm

And as often happens, it wasn't long before we were answering questions about the lenses, photography and sharing the views from our cameras with visitors from Kansas to Iowa to England. I think Deanna spent more time allowing people to look through her camera viewfinder than she did shooting.

As I told those I spoke with on Sunday, I love the versatility - and affordability - of this lens. And I can be confident whether on a tripod or even handheld as these are, that my images are going to be great with Tamron's VC stabilization even in the always breezy conditions at 12,000 feet above sea level.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Between my visits to photo specialty stores, events around the country, and the Tamron Tailgate Tour, I am fortunate to have seen and photographed a lot of beautiful and fascinating places around the country. However, one of my absolute favorite places happens to be in my own “backyard” – Rocky Mountain National Park just above Estes Park, Colorado.

So with a few days off the road, I headed up to the park with the amazing new Tamron 16-300, the powerful 150-600, and the hope to find a few wildflowers and/or elk along the way. With just these two lenses, I can cover just about any situation. Since we planned on doing a little walking during our day trip, I wanted to keep my backpack as light as possible by carrying as few lenses as possible and yet be prepared for anything I might want to photograph.

Of course, when my wife and I headed west from our home in Fort Collins, I forgot that it was a state holiday weekend (Happy 138th Birthday Colorado!) in addition to being the height of the summer tourist season. Despite the crowds, we managed to find a few great spots, some inspirational flowers, a few distant elk and some really interesting people.

Often when we head out on trips, my wife serves as “spotter.” She watches the scenery and looks for potentially interesting places to stop while I watch the road. Fortunately for me, she has a good eye and has found more than one interesting spot that inspired me to some great images.

Once we were into the park, our first stop was at about 10,100 feet at a pullout overlooking Hidden Valley just before the very popular Rainbow Curve overlook on Trail Ridge Road. Deanna had spotted some interesting flowers she thought I might like. There was a bit of haze in the air but since I wasn’t really looking for landscapes, I was able to concentrate on things a little closer to the ground. There were several different clusters of wildflowers which provided some great color.

After about an hour of shooting and a few minutes to review our images, we decided to rejoin the stream of cars, campers, and tour busses to head up toward the summit. But more about that in part two of our trip: Sunday Drive – The Elk.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

As spring has finally arrived here in Eastern Pennsylvania I’m excited and feel renewed about shooting the beautiful spring growth. Although she’s running a little late this year (spring that is), the trees are coming to life and the flowers are sprouting up saying look at me! This is a busy time of year for me capturing spring greens and fresh colors along with teaching spring workshops. Life is good!!!

I thought I would share a few tips for making the most of your spring photography:

Isolate - Make your subject clear. If you are photographing a group of flowers, isolate one, two or three. Select a specific subject to photograph out of the group making your main subject stand out.

Opposites Attract - The strongest color contrast is between opposite colors, red and green. This is because "warm colors advance and cool colors recede." Placing red against green can create an almost three dimensional appearance.

Backgrounds - The backgrounds are at least as important as the main subject. Nothing can kill an image quicker than a busy background. There may be as little as an inch or less of camera repositioning to go from a distracting background to a pleasing, detail-less, muted background.

Leading lines – Leading lines are probably one of my most used elements of design and incorporating them into your photography will certainly make your images stronger!

Many of my students will ask what type of equipment do I use or would I recommend. For all of my macro work I use one of the following Tamron lenses. I also use a carbon fiber Gitzo tripod (GT3541XLS) which is an invaluable tool for creating solid compositions and shooting with a slow shutter speed.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Each winter I count the months and days until I will be able to return to the rivers and shoot with some green around the water. I enjoy shooting flowing rivers any time but my favorite is when the trees have that “electric” green look. Shooting rivers is the perfect exercise in technique and composition. Using the natural curves of a river can lead the viewer through your frame.

Here are a few tips to help you get that perfect river or waterfall image. Contrast can be an image maker or breaker. The best time to shoot flowing water is on a low contrast day whether it is a result of an overcast day or even just after a rain or drizzle. I prefer to use a wide angle lens when shooting because of the ability to decompress the scene and include a foreground object to grab the viewer and pull them into your image. A must for me is sharpness and clarity so the logical choice for me is the Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD lens. It allows me to jam it into the foreground and still get the sharpness I need in the background at f16 or so. The other advantage to shooting in low contrast is that you are able to shoot at f11 or f16 and still get a shutter speed of 1 second or slower to give the water a soft flowing look. A crucial accessory that is needed to perfect the image is a high quality circular polarizer. The polarizer is going to eliminate glare from foliage and the rocks around the river while adding some contrast to the scene to make the compositional elements stand out more.

Another reason I like the Tamron SP 24-70mm lens is the construction of the lens will help to keep any minor moisture out of the lens. I typically will cover the camera and lens with a shower cap as I am moving around setting up my compositions but for the time it is uncovered and capturing the image I know the lens is safe from the elements. The lens comes standard with a lens shade so in addition to reducing any glare coming in from the side, it will also keep any moisture from hitting the front of the polarizer.

Another necessity is a tripod when dealing with shutter speeds of 1 second or slower. When I do this I will turn off the VC (Vibration Compensation) in order to reduce shake that would be created using this feature when the lens is on a tripod. My tripod of choice is the Vanguard Abeo or Alta Pro tripod. I have used this tripod in extremely awkward positions, often while standing in knee or waist deep water. The tripod legs will go to ground level independently and I will often have two legs resting on a wall or rock almost making the setup a right angle!

I prefer to shoot at slow shutter speeds as a personal choice to create the mood I desire in the image. In order to pre-visualize the effect of the slow shutter speeds I will squint. This makes the flow apparent to a minor extent. Shooting waterfalls is usually done from an obvious point but when photographing rivers I will try and find some area that has nice “C” or “S” curves in the river. I will also look for objects such as flowers or ferns to place into the foreground. Many cameras will only go to ISO 200 by default but often will allow you to go to lower ISO settings often referred to as L1 or L3.

With the spring thaws and the lush greens emerging along the rivers, it is the perfect time to get the gear out and go shoot some rivers and waterfalls. April and May are my favorite months for the new growth and you will find me in the woods often!